Chapter 16: The Second Half

The first half was very tough for both sides but thanks to that penalty kick, Manchester City were able to take the lead and they held on tight to it until the referee blew his whistle twice to bring the first half to an end.

The players from both teams were all in the locker room now and in the Manchester City locker room, Gregory could be seen standing in front of them with both of his arms crossed.

He didn't look all that pleased but at least he didn't have a hostile and disappointed look on his face.

"At least you guys have managed to secure the lead but you're not playing all that well and you're letting them get to our line of defense, this match would have been tougher if they had a sleek way of breaking through our defense." The coach articulated. "We'll have to step up our game and in order to do that, our midfield has to get a bit serious."

As soon as those words left his lips, his gaze shot straight toward Axel who was just listening attentively to everything from the back.

"I didn't tell the three of you in central midfield to just focus on doing things mainly from your positions, try to get up front in the right moments to give Axel a hand in starting up an attack. You know what, I want you to move up front and help Axel in facilitating offensive plays, Maxi and Terry can take care of things in central midfield while also helping out in the back."

'Why does this sound like him saying, 'Axel, you might not be able to play more than ten minutes in the second half?"

The youngster placed his hand on his cheek and was about to doze off into his thoughts when that stern voice pulled him back. 

"Axel."

"Ye..s." He stuttered a bit before quickly shifting his gaze back to the coach.

"How are you feeling? Any discomfort from that foul earlier?" He inquired with an expression of genuine concern on his face. 

"Umm..yeah, the pain hung around for a bit after the treatment but I'm all good now." He replied with a fake smile as he kicked his right foot back and forth. 

'That's a lie, but I'm sure this pain will be completely gone by the time the second half kicks off and if it doesn't or ends up getting worse, then I'll just ask to be subbed off.'

"Alright then, it's good to hear that," Gregory replied with a relieved look before slowly turning his gaze away from the midfielder. 

He went on to talk about a couple of things regarding how they were going to handle Arsenal in the second half and after that, he left the room to allow the players to use whatever time they had left to catch their breath before they had to head back to the pitch for the second half. 

During that moment, Axel had his gaze glued to his phone and he was just checking the same thing he always checked during this time whenever a match was going on.

He was checking their sofascore ratings, his performance had not been great so far but he had a six-point five rating.

The person with the highest rating so far in their team was Merino with a seven-point zero. 

That was the highest rating in the match so far, the only person with a close enough rating was Arder Guller from Arsenal with a six-point eight. 

'He's a dangerous player, but luckily we've been able to stop all his dangerous moves so far, I just hope things don't go south in the second half.'

________ ________

"Welcome back, everyone, the second half of this captivating match is about to kick off as we can see the players from both sides making their way to the pitch now," Tony announced as the voices of the fans on both sides went up with cheers and chants.

"The first half sure was something, in terms of gameplay, Manchester City were the superior team and they did well to grab the lead ahead of the Gunners thanks to a well-taken penalty kick from Tacky. That said, Arsenal has not been bad so far, in fact, they've been putting a lot of pressure on the home team but their indecisiveness in front of the goal has led them to where they are right now, they'll have to step things up in this half if they want to leave the Etihad stadium with at least a point." Mike articulated.

Everyone made their way to their positions quickly and standing over the ball in the kick-off spot now was their striker, Mathys Henry.

'He's been quiet so far because we've managed to tactfully lock down his providers, I hope we can keep things that way.' Axel said subconsciously as he stretched his arms.

After confirming that everything was ready, the referee blew his whistle, and as soon as Mathys heard it, he quickly sent the ball rolling to the teammate closest to him. 

"There's the whistle and we are back in the game."

One of the midfielders with the name Zafah written above the number six at the back of his shirt had his foot on the ball but just before Andrea could get to him, he sent the ball rolling to Arder.

"Arder."

The midfielder pushed the ball back to one of the defenders who quickly sent it flying over to Davidson down the right. 

"Over to Davidson."

Terry quickly closed up on the winger at that time but he played a dummy on the midfielder to get him out of the way.

However, just before he could move any further with the ball, Davi closed up on the area and swept the ball off his feet. 

"Nice defending from Davi, you can't let Davidson get too close to your box."

The ball rolled straight to Terry's legs, and without hesitation, he sent the ball rolling to Maxi.

"They're looking to get it forward quickly here!"

The midfielder quickly sent the ball rolling to Andrea who linked it up to Merino as soon as he got his foot on it.

Merino didn't have any passing options up front so he quickly pushed forward with it to give his teammates the time to cover up.

Zafah tried to intercept him from the side but the winger was simply faster so he kept at it with his speed. 

"Merino doesn't seem to be slowing down but he might have to as he gets closer to Kimoto."

The left-back didn't want to risk quickly rushing out and getting deleted by the winger so he just waited near the goal line for a while. 

However, just before Merino could run into the wingback, he pushed the ball back to Andrea who quickly linked it up to Axel down the middle near the edge of the box.

The youngster had Arder right in front of him and the midfielder didn't waste any time in stretching his leg in an attempt to steal the ball.

"Oh, it's a struggle between Arder and Axel here."

Axel crashed to the floor due to that challenge but he refused to leave the ball.

He swiftly turned with the ball while he was still on the floor to get Arder off him, and just after quickly getting up from the floor, he sent the ball rolling into the box in an attempt to set Tacky up.

"Looks like Axel won that challenge and he immediately tries to find Tacky inside the box!"

That was a great pass from Axel and that could have been a great goal from Tacky, but Allen was able to rush out just in time to grab the ball before the striker could get to it.

"Oh, that was so close, Allen made the right call in quickly rushing out."

The goalkeeper quickly sent the ball flying out and everyone quickly started running that way, everyone except Axel who was just standing there with his gaze on the floor.

"Oh, God, it just got worse." He muttered before folding his face.